Do 19th Century Writers Regard Criminals as 'Irredeemably Other'?

Summary: Details the 19th century writers habit of 'creating monsters out of men'. Analyses the classic villains of 19th Century literature with reference to Dicken's 'Great Expectations', Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' and Balzac's 'Le Pere Goriot'

`Nineteenth century writers are fascinated by criminals, but they are content to regard them as socially marginal, congenitally deviant and irredeemably other'. Is this true of the writers you have studied"

Nineteenth century writers have indeed portrayed their criminals as socially marginal, congenitally deviant and irredeemably other, though all of these characteristics are rarely ever used in one character. Many writers have tended to cast their more socially minor criminals in a more redemptive light; one consequence of being socially marginal is, more often than not, the character is less intelligent. French historian, literary critic and philosopher Michel Foucault equated knowledge with power; nineteenth century writers in turn associated that power with corruption. D.A. Miller writes in The Novel and the Police, " Though power thus encompasses everything in the world of the novel, it is never embraced by the novel itself. On the contrary, the novel systematically...